Developing legislative reform options to clarify the application of current driver and driving laws to automated vehicles, and to establish legal obligations for automated driving system (ADS) entities.

Changing driving laws to support automated vehicles

Scoping >

Analysing issues >

Analysing options >

Implementing

Purpose

The purpose of this project is to develop legislative reform options to:

clarify the application of current driver and driving laws to automated vehicles

Next steps

In early October 2017, we released a discussion paper seeking feedback from transport agencies, police, industry, and other interested parties on how Australian governments should amend driver laws to facilitate the introduction of automated vehicles.

should driving laws change to allow an automated driving system (ADS) to drive—rather than a human—and ensure that an entity is responsible for the actions of the vehicle when the ADS is driving?

The NTC sought feedback on options to reform laws to achieve this and other issues that arise if the ADS is legally permitted to drive.

Consultation closed on Friday 24 November 2017.

Feedback from consultation will be used to develop reform options for the Transport and Infrastructure Council meeting in May 2018.

Background

Our work in this area began in November 2015 after the Transport and Infrastructure Council asked us to identify regulatory barriers to safely introducing more automated road and rail vehicles in Australia.

In November 2016, the NTC released a policy paper, Regulatory reforms for automated road vehicles.

This concluded a one year project to research the regulatory barriers and develop recommendations to support future reform.

Transport ministers approved all eight recommendations outlined in the policy paper and charged the NTC with delivering the recommended regulatory reform agenda.